


never going to be any other way

by ballerinaroy



Series: nineteen years later seems pretty far away [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Platonic Bed Sharing, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 16:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20530859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ballerinaroy/pseuds/ballerinaroy
Summary: Harry might have only been thinking of his four-poster bed and a sandwich when he exited the Headmaster's office, but Ron and Hermione aren't thinking of letting him make that journey alone.





	never going to be any other way

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually the original start to my story (up in our bedroom) after the war. It ended up being a little too long to include in the peice but I still really enjoy it. 
> 
> Hope you like it too!

Together they exited the Headmaster’s office, Harry leading the way down the spiral staircase with Ron and Hermione trailing him. When they reached the bottom, exiting into the corridor where dust was still heavy in the air, he turned to them.

“Where next?” Ron asked before Harry could even speak.

“Gryffindor tower.” He said in a tone he hoped they wouldn’t argue with. “I’ve missed my bed.”

He could tell Hermione had objections, but before she could get to them Ron had looped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “We’ll go with you.”

“It’s alright if you—“

“We’re going with you,” Hermione echoed firmly. “We’re just as exhausted as you Harry, let’s go find a shower and go to sleep.”

“Okay,” Harry agreed and Hermione’s hand slipped into his as he turned to lead the familiar path back to their common room. “Are you sure you don’t want to be with your family?”

“We’ve got time,” Ron replied quietly. “Besides, they won’t leave for hours yet and we haven’t slept in—“ he paused for a moment, a stunned look on his face. “Blimey, I don’t remember the last time we’ve slept.”

Unable to argue, and silently grateful he would still have Ron and Hermione by his side, Harry allowed a tired smile to play across his face which was dashed almost immediately as they neared the portrait of the fat lady only to find it empty. Before the implications could play through his hardly working mind, Hermione had already pulled her wand, muttering an incantation Harry was not familiar with and the empty canvas had swung open to reveal the portrait hole.

“Brilliant,” Ron said to Hermione as she flushed.

At once Harry was positive this was not a spell she should have known but kept his mouth shut as they clamored through the portrait hole. The room was desolate, lacking the familiar lived-in feel that Harry had always known. The fire had gone out leaving the room to fill with smoke which made the morning rays of sun hazy.

“We should open a window,” Hermione said, already walking over to the one closest to the fireplace.

Following suit Ron was walking over to the one opposite the room which overlooked the Quidditch Pitch. His gave way easily, creaking open and when Harry looked to Hermione she was struggling with the pane, looking at him for assistance. Hurriedly he went to her side, joining her hands against the glass which gave way almost at once, a cool breeze rushing over them.

“Thank you,” Hermione said, smiling sadly at him as they walked towards the spiral staircase.

“We’re showering,” Hermione told them in a tone that wasn’t to be argued with as they climbed for the seventh year boys dormitory.

Though he was thoroughly exhausted and couldn’t care less what he smelled or looked like, Harry nodded, shuffling up the stairs and into the bathroom at once. Before the door was even closed Harry was stripping off his jacket and shirt, letting them fall to the ground in a puddle. He gripped his wand in his hand still as he discarded his jeans and stepped into a stall before Ron and Hermione entered the bathroom behind him.

The door opened as the water began to wash over him and he could hear Hermione beginning to chastise him for leaving his clothes all over but once again Ron whispered something to her and, miraculously, she said nothing.

“I’ve picked out the cleanest clothes that I could find,” Hermione told him and he could see from the gap in his curtain as she produced a pair of his oldest pajamas.

“Thanks,” he answered hollowly as Ron took them from her and sloppily hung them on the hook outside his stall.

“Do you have any soap?” Hermione asked and Harry nodded before he remembered that she couldn’t see him.

“I just used Seamus’s,” Harry called.

Hermione didn’t reprimand him, looking through her bag for a moment more before walking out of sight and moments later the shower beside him came on followed by the stall closest to the door. There were thuds as Ron and Hermione’s clothes hit the ground and for the first time since their stay at Shell’s Cottage they began to smell properly clean.

Though he took his time, Harry finished long before his friends, shutting off the shower and drying himself with a Hogwarts towel that Hermione had gotten from somewhere. He dressed and emerged to a slightly steamy room. On the counter, Hermione had put a bottle of Dinity and Harry nodded, wiping the mirror with his towel to get a better look at himself. Already he’d been checked over twice, once by Madame Pomfrey and once but Mrs. Weasley though he knew that the check Hermione would soon be giving him would be the most through.

His face looked sunken and felt dry, the corners of his mouth ached when he squinted to look at a scrape on the side of his cheek. Carefully he lifted his shirt, exposing the bruises that he’d first noticed in the shower. Already a deep purple, Harry winced when he tried to touch it with the flat of his fingers.

“Did anyone look at that?” Ron asked from behind him and Harry jumped, unaware that Ron had finished showering. He stood just outside the stall, watching Harry with a careful expression as he pulled on his pants.

Harry shook his head, looking back at the bruises in the mirror and the scrapes that crisscrossed on the surface of his skin above them. “I can’t reach, do you mind?”

Ron nodded, throwing his towel to the growing pile of dirty clothes. With purpose, he walked over and snatched the bottle from Harry’s hands. “Lift up your shirt a bit more mate.”

The moment that the liquid made contact with Harry’s skin he hissed, ducking his head to hide his face. Ron said nothing, putting the dipper back in the bottle and covered Harry’s bruise with the liquid. He could feel his skin mending as he stood crouched over and by the time Ron set the bottle back on the counter, the stinging had ceased. Carefully he reached back, putting his hands over the newly healed skin and turned to inspect it in the mirror.

“Anything I can get for you?” Harry asked, noting similar marks on Ron’s back that weren’t quite healed yet.

“Hermione got me earlier,” Ron answered, fetching his shirt and pulling it over his head before turning back to Harry.

“Right,” Harry nodded, unable to think of anything else to say he picked up his wand that he’d set on the counter and looked at Ron. “I’m going to go to bed then.”

Ron opened his mouth to say something but shut it, looking at Hermione’s closed shower.

“Harry wait-“ she called and Harry stopped, looking back towards her. “Just, give me a minute alright?”

“It’s just outside this door.” Harry protested weakly, pointing though he knew that she couldn’t see. “I-“

“Last time you left us you died.” Hermione interrupted and Harry stopped, staring towards her. “I know okay, I know that it’s just right there and that it’s over but,” she paused and sighed. “Please, Harry. Just for tonight.”

“Alright,” he answered simply, unable to argue with her and certainly unable to dispute her claims.

“Thank you,” she answered him and he took a step back, resting against the counter and avoiding Ron’s eyes. “Can one of you get in my bag and get something to put your clothes in?”

Ron walked over quickly, whispering something to her before taking her bag and fishing out an old trash bag. Before he could ask, Harry pulled his wand and lifted the clothes into the bag that Ron held open for them. Moments later Hermione emerged, wearing an old pair of Harry’s sweats and one of Ron’s shirts. Harry looked over at her and she blushed at him, looking down at her outfit.

“During the battle, uh, the bag got grazed by some curse. I was able to patch it up quickly. The only thing we lost really was, well, most of my clothes.” Hermione told him and Harry gave her a small smile. She nodded, depositing her clothes into the bag and then took it from Ron sealing it and stuffing it into her small beaded bag. “Shall we?”

Wordlessly Harry nodded, picking up the Ditinty and lead the way back into the dormitory. Light shone through the windows, reminding Harry that it couldn’t be past noon yet, but the exhaustion in him made him care less. His bed was made and felt a sense of belonging as he traipsed over to it and collapsed immediately onto the covers without even bothering to remove his glasses.

Beside him, he could hear Ron mimicking his actions, and a satisfied moan as the bed creaked under his weight. Harry opened his eyes, wondering where Hermione would be sleeping and realized it would only be polite to offer her his bed though he didn’t think he could manage any more than rolling to the floor. Hermione, however, seemed to have come to a solution.

“Ron, get up and help me push the beds together,” Hermione said, tugging at Ron’s shoulder.

“Why?” Ron grumbled, blinking up at her.

“The bed’s not big enough for the both of us.”

“You’re tiny,” Ron said, patting the space closest to her invitingly.

Hermione smirked. “That may be but you sleep all sprawled out. I’m as likely to wake up on the floor as anything. Come on, this way there’ll be more room.”

Harry wanted to point out that the wooded box which kept their mattresses in place would still be dividing them making the middle of the bed less than comfortable but he remained silent. He rather liked the idea of them being so close. He wasn’t ready to be apart from them yet.

“Have you been watching me sleep?” Ron teased, getting to his feet nevertheless.

“Honestly Ronald,” Hermione said the familiar phrase that Harry had grown up hearing only her tone was different now and there was a glint of amusement in her eyes. “Get up and help me.”

“Are you a witch or not?”

Hermione looked for a moment as if she was about to be cross before a smile broke across her face and at once she was giggling. It was a nice sound. A noise neither of them had made in ages. Harry could feel his own face breaking into a grin as he watched the happy expression on her face.

“What?” Ron asked with this own grin as he pulled his wand, lifting the bed in the air where it soared gracefully across the gap before crashing into Harry’s and landing with an echoing thud.

“It’s nothing,” Hermione said, still laughing as she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his middle. “That’s just what you said to me when we were first years and trapped in devil’s snare.”

Ron joined in with a chuckle, looking down at her fondly. “Seems like ages ago when we were convinced Snape was the bad guy.”

“I’m still not convinced he wasn’t,” Hermione said but allowed Ron to distract her with a kiss.

Harry watched them for a moment, already moving around each other with a new familiarity that had not been there before. Perhaps it had. Since Malfoy Manor Ron never seemed to bother with a reason for putting his arm around her nor Hermione for taking his hand in his. It was just more pronounced now, official. It seemed that they weren’t going to be stopping and Harry, feeling like he was staring, cleared his throat rather loudly. 

“Sorry Harry,” they said together at once, blushing as they separated.

“Forgot you were there,” Ron mumbled as Hermione climbed into the bed and sat cross-legged in the middle.

“You don’t mind, do you Harry?” Hermione asked, her voice suddenly an octave higher than it normally was.

They were both looking at him anxiously now as if his answer would change their feelings towards one another. He considered teasing them but was unable to come up with anything but the truth.

“Course not,” he answered and identical smiles split their faces. “Took you both long enough.”

Ron’s face grew more scarlet as he climbed into bed beside Hermione, putting his arm around her. “It’s not like we didn’t know.”

“We were waiting for this all to be over.” Hermione continued in a fond voice. “We didn’t think it’d be wise to start anything that would distract from what we were doing.”

At once Harry wanted to tell them that they shouldn’t have waited on account of him but found himself, not for the first time that night, immensely grateful for them. Unable to come up with the proper words he reached over, taking Hermione’s hand and squeezed it.

“I’m going to see if Kreacher can bring us some food,” Harry said as an excuse to turn away and dab his eyes, noticing as he turned that Ron had his eyes closed with a funny smile on his face. “Kreacher!”

There was a long pause. A wave of dread passed over Harry. He hadn’t considered the possibility of his elf dying. “Kreacher!”

There was a pop and at once Kreacher was before them. “Master Harry called?”

Behind him, he heard Hermione exhale in relief and Harry smiled down at his elf. His clothes were torn and stained and his face was covered in soot but otherwise, he looked unharmed.

“Thank you, for fighting with us,” Harry said at once, though he hadn’t thought of it before. “You were very brave.”

Kreacher blinked at Harry for a moment, tears filling his tennis ball eyes before croaking out. “It was an honor, Harry Potter.” And he bowed so low he nearly lost his balance. “What can Kreacher do for Master Harry?”

“Could you bring us some sandwiches?” Harry asked.

“And cakes?” Ron added.

“Yes,” Kreacher said, straightening up finally. “Kreacher will bring Master and his friends food at once.”

Harry twisted to face them, Ron’s eyes were closed again, his head tilted back against the headboard and his arm was around Hermione who was leaning against him. They looked comfortable despite the cramped position though Harry supposed they’d learned to sleep in all sorts of odd configurations. It seemed so normal now, to have them curled up beside him, back at the place he had first known at home. Hermione caught his eyes and gave him a sleepy smile.

“Thanks,” he murmured, looking between them both. There were tears in Hermione’s eyes as she laced their fingers together and as another wave of relief washed over him tears formed in his eyes too. “For everything.”

Ron’s eyes were wet as he and Harry nodded at each other. “It was never going to be any other way.”


End file.
